Adding Clearance Spaces To an Electrical Panel

Clearance space definition is essential for accurate Clash detection.  OpenBuildings Designer Electrical has the ability to define up to two clearance spaces per each electrical element as shown below, and those can be later used with Clash Detection.

How to define a Clearance Space

In this example clearance envelope will be defined around distribution panel 3 feet in front of the panel and 3 feet on top of the panel.

• Place a Panel
• Activate the command 3D Properties from the symbols section of the Electrical Ribbon

• Click on the Panel to select it.
• The Object Properties dialog box will open. Enable Local Overwrite and Clearance 1.

• Fill in following values for Clearance 1:
  Delta X= 0
  Delta Y= 0
  Delta Z= 3
  Size X=3
  Size Y=1
  Size Z=3
• Click OK to see the first Clearance:

• Restart the 3D Properties tool, re-select the panel, and enable Clearance 2 to place the second clearance:

• Enter these values for Clearance 2:
  Delta X= 0
  Delta Y= -2
  Delta Z= -3
  Size X= 3
  Size Y= 3
  Size Z= 9
• Finish With OK.

The two Clearance spaces are now added to the panel:

Let's take closer look at entries in clearance space definition:
Delta X, Y and Z entries define distances between insertion points of a panel and insertion points for clearance spaces. In the default ANSI library, the panels have insertion point defined as bottom center. Insertion points for clearance spaces are bottom center of the clearance space boxes.
Sizes X, Y and Z define size of clearance space boxes.
Clearance 1:
Clearance 1 is parallel to the panel and starts from the top of the panel, so Delta X, Y =0 and Delta Z = 3
Delta Z represents distance between insertion point of the panel (3 ft above the floor) and bottom of the clearance space (6ft above the finished floor)
Size X, Y and Z define dimensions of clearance space. Clearance space 1 has same depth and width as panel and is 3 ft above the panel, so X=3, Y=1 and Z=3.

Clearance 2
Clearance 2 starts from the floor and finishes at 3 feet above the panel so total clearance space length is 9 ft.
Delta Y = -2 considering that insertion point for panel is center, depth of the panel is 1 ft and desired clearance space is 3 ft in front of the panel. In this case insertion point for clearance space should be 2 ft to the left (negative value)
Delta X = 0 since clearance space is parallel to the panel and doesn't have offset in X direction.
Size X, Y and Z define dimensions of Clearance 2. Size X=3 (same as panel width), size Y=3 (depth of clearance space)m Size Z=9 (height of clearance space)

For efficient viewing of clearance spaces, transparency can be applied to clearance space levels. To make clearance space transparent, open Level Manager and change transparency value for levels BES CLEARANCE1 and BES CLEARANCE2 to 50%.